Turnabout Confession
by Midnight Wrighter
Summary: "I want to believe in Athena. I really do. But what is faith without doubt? That's why…I need to question her guilt! So that once the truth finally comes out, I can really, fully trust her!" The truth did come out, and the Phantom was caught, but that was a while ago. Apollo now trusts Athena unwaveringly; however, there's a truth that he must reveal to her. A Justicykes oneshot.


**Here's my first attempt at writing Justicykes. This ship is one of my newer OTPs, so I apologize in advance if either of them appear out-of-character. I can't pinpoint an exact date or time for this interaction; however, it's definitely sometime after Dual Destinies, so there might be a hint of spoilers in here, but nothing major. I hope you like it! (****Sorry for the unoriginal title.)**

**This is my second Valentine's Day gift to Misa96. I hope you like this!**

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_**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Ace Attorney series characters!**_

_**Turnabout Confession**_

_Shirt, check. Vest, check. Tie…ah! It looks wrinkled! ...There. Much better, and check. Shoes, check. Pants, check. Bracelet, check. _Apollo Justice stood in front of the bathroom mirror, fixing his appearance and making sure his clothes were absolutely perfect.

He was wearing his usual, everyday attire, which consisted of his dark red pants and a vest of the same color that he wore over a white button-shirt. The look was completed with an azure tie, and his shirt sleeves rolled up, exposing his golden bracelet. _What else am I forgetting?_ He did a once-over of himself, starting from his feet and all the way to his head. _Oh! Duh, that's right!_

He pulled at the two horn-like bangs and tapped his fingertip against the edge of each, testing them for their sharpness. _Spiky-bangs, check. Hm…Do they need more gel? _He glanced down at the sink, where a once unopened bottle of hair gel now laid on its side, totally empty. _I…think that should be enough. I think I got everything covered, but…for some reason, I feel like I'm forgetting something really important._

"Oh well. I'm sure it's not _that _important. Now, time for an extra Chords of Steel exercise." He clenched his fists in front of him, furrowed his brows and cleared his throat. "I'm Apollo Justice, and I'm fine. I'm Apollo Justice, and I'm fine. I'm Apollo Justice, and I'm fine." He paused, taking a couple of deep breaths, his face getting a little red. "I'm Apollo Justice, and I'm fine! I'm Apollo Justice, and I'm fine! I'm Apollo Justice, and I'm fine!"

Now, it was time to yell at the top of his lungs. "Ahem…I'M APOLLO JUSTICE, AND I'M FINE! I'M APOLLO JUSTICE, AND I'M FINE. I-"

"I'm Athena Cykes, and I'm here!"

"Ack!" _She's here? Already?! _He tried to find the clock in the bathroom, only to remember that there wasn't a clock in there. _I must've been in here for a long time…_

*Bang, bang, bang* "Apollo! What are you doing in there?!"

"Er…nothing! Nothing, I'm just…uh..." His eyes searched desperately in the small room, only for his gaze to fall on something. "I'm cleaning the toilet! Yeah!"

"Okay…Then why did you call me here if you were going to clean the toilet?! I rushed to get here, you know!"

"I _was_ cleaning the toilet, but now I'm done!" Taking one last look in the mirror, he nodded at his reflection. _I'm Apollo Justice, and I can do this! Athena Cykes, here comes Justice!_

He whipped the door open, only to find himself face-to-face with his junior partner. "AH!"

"AH!" Athena's hands were on her cheeks as she gaped at him. She quickly recovered, placing her hands on her hips. "What's wrong, Apollo?"

"Uh…er…nothing. I just…didn't expect you to get here so early."

"Early? Do you even know what time it is?"

Apollo's eyes immediately went to where the clock was. "Whoa!" He turned to Athena. "You're late!"

"As if it matters. You didn't even know what time it was." She frowned. Her fellow defense attorney had been acting quite…odd, for a while now. He seemed a lot more nervous whenever she saw him and avoided conversing with her unless he absolutely had to. In the rare occasion that he did talk to her, she could sense a lot of discord in his heart, a discord she couldn't quite seem to figure out.

"Er…do you think you could give me some space so that I can actually get _out_ of the bathroom?"

"Oh right! Sorry!" She stepped aside, allowing him to enter the Wright Anything Agency lobby.

"Thanks."

"So…what was it you called me over here for? And where's Trucy and the Boss?"

"They're both still at their apartment. Mr. Wright phoned me and said they'd be coming into the agency a little late today."

"Heh, heh. They're probably sleeping in, I bet. I did totally crush all of you yesterday in bowling!"

_I bet they were more crushed by your bragging about it._

"You didn't answer my first question, Apollo. What did you call me here for? Wait! Don't tell me! Is there a case for us to take?" She slammed a hand into her palm. "I'm so ready for another case to investigate!" She had a bright smile on her face, her blue eyes sparkling in excitement.

_She looks so thrilled, I almost want to say yes. She's always so ready to dive into a case._

"It…isn't a case, unfortunately."

As Apollo had expected, the orange-haired attorney was disappointed. Her shoulders drooped, and a tiny frown formed on her lips. "Oh." Nevertheless, she immediately perked up. "No use in being disappointed, I guess. We'll get a case soon enough. And besides, that means you had something else in mind when you called me over here. You know I'm not a patient person, Apollo. You need to tell me why you asked me to come here."

"Right. That. Uh…" Apollo opened his mouth once or twice, only to promptly close it. _I practiced this all last night. How could I suddenly be speechless now?!_ His gaze fell on his junior partner for an instant, and he could feel his heart beat faster. _Probably because she wasn't there to see or hear me yesterday. Maybe if I don't look at her, I can get a grip of myself. _ He averted his gaze, angling his head down and to the left. "You see…what I have to say…is…" _Ack! I still can't get myself to say it! What is wrong with me?! This should be easy!_

"Apollo. Is everything okay? You're…acting a little odd," Athena interrupted his thoughts, her voice clearly betraying her sudden concern. She reached out to touch his forehead. "Are you sick? Do you have a fever?"

The red-clad attorney stepped back and away from her touch. "No. It's alright. I'm okay," he muttered, his head lowering further. He wanted to try and hide from her the blush that he could feel burning on his cheeks.

"Now I _know_ there's something wrong," Athena stated rather firmly.

"What do you mean?"

"If you were your usual self, you would've said, 'I'm fine!' Just now, you didn't."

"I…well…you see…"

"Apollo Justice. I sense an _overwhelming_ amount of discord in your voice. Now you can either tell me what it is you're trying to say, or we can do this the hard way." To emphasize her point, she tapped on Widget, who was in his place on her necklace.

_Oh no! I can't let her use the Mood Matrix on me! I just need to say it._ "Alright, alright! I'll tell you myself. No need to drag Widget into this."

"I don't mind getting dragged into this mess if it means I can drag whatever it is you're hiding out of you!" The little electronic assistant chirped.

"Widget! Shush!" Athena shook her head. "Sorry. You know Widget. Always talking when he doesn't need to."

"Hey!"

"Ignore him. Now. You said you would tell me, so tell me."

"It's…not that easy for me to say, Athena," he began hesitantly, his gaze glued to his feet.

Athena held in the urge to groan, so instead, she cried out, "Just get it out of your system, Apollo!"

"I…hm…er…" He struggled to even utter a full word.

"Apollo, wha-" She was cut short by a bold exclamation.

"I'm Apollo Justice, and I like you!" His eyes were squeezed shut as he shouted the confession.

The younger attorney gaped at him, and only managed to say one word. "…Wh-what?!"

"I…ahem." Apollo's eyes were still shut, but he lowered his voice significantly. "I said…I'm Apollo Justice, and that…I like you." Apollo heard nothing after he spoke, except for the sound of the clock ticking. With each passing tick, his shoulders drooped slightly. _She must not feel the same way. I should explain myself before she slaps me or something._

"Athena. Look. I know this is sudden and totally unexpected, but…this has actually been bothering me for a while now. Ever since New Year's, I've been seeing you in a different light. And after working with you on the past few cases, I realized that I was developing feelings for you. For a while, I thought I could just push them aside and ignore them, but the more I pushed them away, the harder they pushed on me, until I couldn't bare it anymore. That's why I confessed to you today. I know you probably don't feel the same way, and I completely understand and respect that you don't. I just hope this doesn't ruin our friendship, because you're one of the bestest friends I could have, and I would hate to lose a friend like you, but-mmph!"

Their roles were switched when Athena interrupted Apollo. Her interruption wasn't a declaration like Apollo's was though.

Hers was a kiss.

At first, Apollo didn't realize what was going on. One moment, he was rambling, the next, something soft was pressing on his lips. _What! What is…wait. Athena's…KISSING ME?!_ He was so shocked by the extremely bold move that he only stood there, allowing her to kiss him, but not returning the kiss back. His dark brown eyes were wide open, staring at her closed eyelids as the one-sided kiss continued.

Finally, Athena pulled away from him, her eyes slowly opening and a tiny smile on her face. Apollo didn't fail to notice that Widget, who was quiet, was colored pink. He finally managed to find his voice. His first words were, "What…what was that?"

"What was that? You know what that was, Apollo. A kiss, a physical act performed to show someone you like them, that you have feelings for them."

"And the perfect way to shut up someone who's babbling too much."

"Widget! That was uncalled for!" She scolded him.

"But true," the little device replied.

"You need to learn when the right time to speak is and when is the time to keep your little self quiet!" Apollo couldn't help the light chuckle that escaped his lips as he listened to his crush argue with what was, in essence, a robot. Athena frowned at him, her eyes narrowed slightly. "What are you laughing at?"

"You. It amazes me how you're arguing with a piece of technology. It's…cute."

She was about to initiate an argument with him, only to grin at what he said in the end. "You mean to say that I'm cute, don't you, Apollo?" Seeing the intense blush appear across his cheeks, it was Athena's turn to laugh. "Aw. You look especially adorable when you blush."

"Me? You think I'm adorable?"

She nodded her head. "Mhm. The truth is…" She turned her head to the side, breaking eye contact with him. "I've been feeling…weird when I was around you. I couldn't really get why I was feeling the way I was. I mean, I used to be able to just pick on you and tease without an issue and work with you without a single worry, for the most part. Recently though…when I was around you, I felt all…nervous and worried. Like I said, I didn't really understand it, but…I know what it is now." She finally lifted her head to stare at Apollo.

Apollo enjoyed staring into her crystal blue eyes, but after a few moments, he realized she was expecting him to say something. "Um…what?"

"Well?" She nodded her head, a motion for him to start speaking. When he shrugged, she let out a defeated groan. "For a bright guy, Apollo, you can be really slow sometimes."

"Hey! Now _that_ was uncalled for!" He cried out.

"No way. It was totally called for." Letting out an exasperated sigh, Athena clarified herself. "Apollo! Don't you get it? What I'm trying to get at is that I like you too!"

The loud-voiced attorney stared at her in shock. He was at a loss for words for a half a minute. Snapping out of his trance, he cleared his throat. "You…you do?" His voice revealed his skepticism, but with her fine-tuned hearing, Athena could hear the hint of hope in it.

And that was all she needed to confirm his feelings for her.

"I do. I really do."

"But how? I mean…I'm glad you do, don't get me wrong, but…don't you remember what happened with the Phantom? I… I suspected you of having murdered my best friend. That…was an awful thing for me to do."

"Apollo. You're not seriously still upset about that, are you? You even said so yourself at the trial that you wanted to believe me, but that you had to find out the truth before you could completely trust. And did you forget what I said? I was being honest when I said I was touched by what you did. So don't think that would be a reason for me to not like you."

_Phew. That's a relief._ After his struggle to confess to her and his fear of her response to his confession, Apollo finally smiled a huge, genuine smile. "You have no idea how happy that makes me, Athena."

"Well, from what I can hear, it's not hard to tell you're happy." She wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "So I guess that's that."

"Yeah. So…does this mean…we're…you know?" He was feeling too awkward to say it aloud, and sensing this, Athena decided to alleviate his embarrassment.

"Girlfriend and boyfriend? Yes, that's what it means to me, and I think I can say that's what it means to you too, right?" She grinned when he nodded in agreement. "Good." Suddenly, on an impulse, she pulled him in for a hug. "I'm…really glad you like me, Apollo," she whispered. He couldn't see the content smile on her face.

Not feeling as awkward, Apollo wrapped his arms around her and returned the hug wholeheartedly. "Me too, Athena." _It feels nice, holding her close like this._

She pulled away from him, having yet to stop smiling. "Oh boy. I can't wait to tell Trucy and Pearls about this. I have this feeling they've been plotting to get us together."

"Really? Because I thought the same thing? They kept on asking me about what I like in a girl, and a lot of the characteristics, if not all of them, made me think of you. I was a little worried, given how wonderful you and Trucy are at matchmaking," he said, the sarcasm clear in his voice.

"Hey! You forgot Kay, and the three of us had good intentions in mind! It wasn't our fault things worked out the way they did. Besides, we've since retired from our matchmaking shenanigans, I'll have you know, although…we have been considering trying to find someone for Simon."

Hearing the name of the former jail-convict prosecutor caused Apollo to pale. _Oh no. I didn't even think of Prosecutor Blackquill. What is he going say when he finds out Athena and I are an item? No…not what he'll say…what will he __**do**__?!_ Into the attorney's mind came the image of the samurai prosecutor, wielding a katana that was aimed right at Apollo's chest. The attorney gulped, shuddering at the mental picture.

"Apollo! Are you alright?" Noticing the paleness of his face, Athena easily pinpointed what its source was, and her concern dissipated into amusement. "You're worried about how Simon will react, aren't you?"

_More like frightened, but yeah, pretty much. I mean, he doesn't get his reputation as the Twisted Samurai for nothing. _

"Don't you worry. Simon won't harm a single little hair on your head."

_Of course he won't, because he won't have to when he slices my head off clean from the rest of my body. Ugh…_

"He needs to understand that I'm more than capable of protecting myself, and that of all the people who could harm me, you're certainly not one of them. He'll accept it eventually. I know he will. Until then, I'll make sure to protect you from his wrath. Oh, and Taka's too."

"Th-thanks. That's appreciated." _Yeah. Almost forgot about his pet hawk. _

Athena chuckled. "I know. Anyway. Let's change subjects. So…" A cheeky grin on her face. "What did you get me for Valentine's Day today, my dearest new boyfriend?"

The feeling of relief disappeared a few seconds after Athena's question. "…" _Oh no!_ _I __**knew**__ I forgot something today!_

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**So there was my first Justicykes fic. Did you like it? Did you hate it? I'd love to hear your opinions, so please feel free to write a review or private message me! Constructive criticism is always accepted and encouraged. All I ask is that there is no flaming. Thank you!**


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